A glorious wrestling winning streak comes to an end as Rangers upset Tigers at WYL finals

The Tigers fell by a combined score of 250.5 to 234.5 to the upstart Rangers.

In 14 finals matches Lemoore came away with just two wins while the Rangers notched five firsts to outgun the Tigers.

Lemoore’s first WYL champ was Jaylen Hill who captured the 128-division with a 10-5 decision over Redwood’s Jon Fisher. Wrestling at 222, Nickolas Betancourt was the only other champion Saturday, beating Vincent Flores 3-1.

“I’m a little disappointed,” said Tiger Coach Marcio Botelho who had up to Saturday, never lost in the WYL Tournament. “They just couldn’t finish what they started. They started the day really good, our kids were fired up. They were winning big time matches but they fell short when it came down to the finals.”

He went on to say they his team was well represented in the finals. “We had nine guys in the finals and we had two victories out of the nine. It was a disappointing finals for us and our kids just didn’t come through for us when we needed them to.”

Botelho went on to say that his kids were pinning their opponents and the Tigers had the lead going into the finals.

All 14 of his wrestlers will have an opportunity to redeem themselves as all earned spots in the Central Section Tournament to be held Friday and Saturday in East Bakersfield. While only two Tiger wrestlers won in the finals, seven Tigers finished second, more than any other WYL schools.

From East Bakersfield the next stop is the Masters at Madera South High School and then the State Wrestling Tournament again at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield March 7-8.

Second place finishers for the Tigers include Samuel Lopez, who lost to Redwood’s Sammy Pena and Axle Huml who dropped an 11-5 decision to Redwood’s Darrion Harris. Jose Romero also finished second, losing to El Diamante’s Ashton Demaree while Dominic Lopez lost to Golden West’s Paul Hansen. Osaze Osunde dropped an 11-6 contest to Hanford’s Reese Booth.

Brett Lowe fell to second with a loss to Hanford’s Derek Meek and Nate Ibarra lost to Golden West’s Cesar Delgado.